Or are they necessary to finish ripening my Pumpkins?
I have 2 plants- "Howden" is the variety I think.
I have 3 pumpkins that are mostly orange- still a bit of green though. I know the vines that have spread down to my grass (the seeds were planted in a raised bed made with timbers) seem to have put down roots in various places. The actual base of the plant - that is in the raised bed seems to be dead. Leaves are yellow and brown and stems as well. It is still dark green right at the root. I guess my question is- are the pumpkins still pulling stuff through the main base- or are they getting what they need from the roots that the vines put down. As I said the base of the plant and many leaves near it look dead? It is safe to pull and just leave the bits near the actual fruit?
Thanks.
Hill
Are My Pumpkin vines DEAD?
A pic would help, but in general it's not all that unusual for the oldest parts of pumpkins to die off while the rest lives. Even a 'dead' vine can transport water to the rest of the plant if it remains green (the rest of the plant) so I would not remove it. If the main roots aren't getting water and nutrients to the fruit, the plant will soon be entirely dead. There is a good chance the vine is simply old and has cast off the oldest leaves (the ones nearest the roots) as useless to it due to age/environmental damage etc.
It could also be under fertilization resulting in the plant stealing nutrients from the old growth to keep fueling the new growth.
Pumpkins can ripen off the vine if that need be the case, but it's a slow process. They need full sun for fastest ripening. They won't get any larger and should at least be showing some ripe color before being expected to ripen off vine.